Adjustable drapery hook



Dec; 31; 1957" G. w. KALAL ETAL ADJUSTABLE DRAPERY HOOK L amp r2 nwm 5 m3@ This invention relates to adjustable supports and more particularly to, an improved adjustable drapery pin or book capable of varying the height of a drape or curtain tocontrol the length and evenness thereof without necessity for separating the device from its rod or hanger or from the drape or curtain.

Specifically, the invention-comprises a two-piece ratchet mechanism, one piece attachable to a drape or curtain the other piece attachable to a drapery rod or curtain carrier; By mere forward pulling of the drape or curtain, relative movement of the pieces is accommodated to vary the height of a drape supported thereby. All of the ad- United States Patent justrnents can be effected after the drape is hung and can be made from the front of the drape where the results are immediately visible.

Heretofore, several adjustable drapery supports have been proposed and developed for accomplishing the adjusting in height of a drape, but in every case, it was necessary for a set screw to be loosened and tightened, a locking mechanism to be unlocked and locked for either up or down movement of the drape, a complete removal of the drape-from the drapery support to be repositioned, removal'of adrapery receiving element from the drapery rod engaging member for repositioning with respect thereto, and the following of many other complicated pro- 7 ced ure's. In these cases, the manufacture of the adjustable drapery support was expensive, the operation of the support to effect the adjustability was complicated, and

'the durability was short lived.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to obviate the above named difliculties and provide an adjustable drapery support or hanger which is relatively inexpensive;

-' to manufacture, is of simple construction, may be easily 7 and expeditiously manipulated for adjusting the height ofj draperies and curtains or the like, and is durable and i long-lived.

control the evenness thereof without resorting to measurements.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an adjustable drapery support or hook which need not be sewn into the. fabric, but which is adapted to be easily removable from. the drapery as a unit.

Another object of this invention is to providean adjustable drapery support or hook which is adapted to hold the 4 headingor the pleating of a drapery firmly and upright.

Still anotherobject of this invention is to provide a drapery support or hook comprised of two pieces movable relative to one another for adjusting the height of the drapery without removing the support from a drapery rod or carrier, and without resorting to a manipulation of a set screw, clamping means or the like.

And still another object of this invention is in providing an adjustable drapery hanger, wherein the adjustability:

is effected by the manipulation of a ratchet mechanism integral with the hanger.

Another object of this invention is to provide an adjustable drapery support or hanger which may be manipulated from the front of an already hung drape by one hand of the user to vary the height of a drapery supported thereby.

A further object of thi invention is to provide an adjustable drapery support or hanger composed of a drapery receiving member and a drapery rod engaging element connected thereto by a ratchet arrangement arranged so that free upward movement of the drapery receiving member may be accomplished at any time while downward movement is had only by application of outward and downward pressure of the drapery receiving member, and whereby meansis provided for preventing sufiicient rotation of the drapery receiving member to disengage the ratchet locking action.

Another feature of this invention resides in the provision of an adjustable drapery support or hanger comprising a drapery receiving member and a drapery rod or carrier element associated for relative movement therebe tween by a ratchet arrangement, wherein a rod receiving element carries a'slotted pawl portion and body portion constructed of nylon so that the body portion may flex relative to the pawl portion to allow disengagement of the ratchet mechanism and relative movement of the drapery receiving member.

Other objects, features and advantages of this invention will be apparent from the following detailed disclosures, taken in conjunction with the accompanying sheet of drawing. in which:

Figure l is a fragmentary perspective view of a drapery support on a traverse rod in accordance with the features of the invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged side elevational view, partly sectional, of the preferred embodiment of the invention disassociated from a drapery and drapery rod;

Figure 3 is also a side elevational view, partly sectional, of the invention shown in Figure 2, and illustrating the manner in which the drapery receiving member is tilted and a portion of the drapery rod element is flexed to unlock the ratchet means and permit downward movement of the drapery receiving member relative to -the drapery rod element;

Figure 4 is an enlarged top plan view of the drapery rod element shown in Figures 2 and 3;

Figure 5, is an enlarged side elevational view of the drapery vrodyelement; and

Figure 6 is an enlarged front elevational view of the drapery rod element according to the invention.

Referring to Figure 1,.the adjustable drapery support or hanger according to'the invention, generally designated by the numeral 10, includes a drapery receiving member .11' engaging and supporting the pleating or heading of adrapery 12, and a drapery rod element 13 removably supportedyby an eyelet of rod carrier 14 which is, in turn, supported for longitudinal movement along track 15 I'of a traverse rod device, generally designated by numeral 16. The traverse rod device 16. forms no part of 'the invention, butmerelyillust-rates. one supporting device the invention may be associated with. It is to be understood that the drapery hanger 10 of this invention may be suitably associated with other known types of drapery supporting rods which obviously need not be described in detail herein. Also, any known type of drapery, curtain, ornamental hanging or the like may be supported by the drapery hanger of this invention.

The drapery receiving element 'll is composed of three legs, the outer two physically contacting a drape by the coaction of a substantially u-shaped clampingmember having an outer leg 17 terminating at its upper endsin a sharp point for piercing the fabric of the drape, an inner leg 13 connected to the outer leg 17 at its bottom with an enlarged somewhat circular portion 19. The outer leg 17 and inner leg 18 coact to partiallyclamp the fabric of the drapery therebetween, while the lower enlarged circular portion 19 provides room for partially gathering a portion of the drapery fabric and taking the downward load of the drapery. It is to be understood that what is known in the art as a pleating pin may be substituted for the outer leg 17 where such a pleating pin might be desired.

An elongated ratchet-notched leg 20 is spaced rearwardly of the inner leg 18 and connected thereto at its top end by a curvate portion 21. The leg 20 substantially parallels legs 17 and 18 and lies in approximately the same plane thereof, and is provided on its back side with a plurality of equally spaced notches 22. The drapery receiving member 11 is preferably constructed of a suitable metal, although it may be composed of other suitable materials.

Referring now to Figures 2 to 6, the drapery rod receiving element 13 comprises a hook portion for removable attachment to a drapery rod or drapery carrier, as illustrated in Figure 1, defined by an elongated arm 23 connected at its top by curvate portion to a shorter arm 24 which is disposed approximately parallel to arm 23 with the lower end of arm 24 leaning slightly toward arm 23. Extending laterally from the upper end of arms 23 and 24 is a pawl portion 25 terminating in a free end and slotted adjacent thereto as indicated by numeral 26, to receive the notched leg 20 of the drapery receiving member. At the lower end of arm 24 a curvate portion 24a bends upwardly to receive a substantially square or rectangular body portion 27 which has substantially centrally thereof along the vertical axis a bore 28 for slidably receiving therein the notched leg 20 ot the drapery receiving member 11. Although the notched leg 20 is capable of sliding within the bore 28 of the body member 27, the bore and leg are sized for a relatively close fit. It is noted that the bore body member 27 27 terminates at its upper end at a distance slightly short of the horizontal pawl portion 25, and that the bore 28 is more or less aligned with the aperture 26 of the pawl portion 25.

Looking more closely at the pawl portion 25, the slot 26 is constructed so that the leading edge 26a is inclined from top to bottom rearwardly toward the hook portion to provide a relatively sharp upper edge for engaging the notches 22 of the notched leg 20, and that the leading edge 26a projects forwardly partially over the bore 28 of the body member 27 so that a ratchet coaction between the pawl portion 25 and the leg 20 can be eflected. The trailing edge 26b is likewise inclined with respect to the horizontal pawl portion 25 to be substantially parallel with the inclination of the leading edge 26a of slot 26. The one-piece drapery rod element 13 is preferably constructed of a plastic such as nylon, although any other suitable materiaLincluding metal capable of flexing at the curvate portion 24a may be used. The selected material may be molded, cast or otherwise formed. It is only necessary that a certain resiliency or flexibility be embraced within the element so that the body portion 27 may be displaced from its normal position. As noted in Figures 4 and 6 the elongated arm 23 is more or less narrow so that it may be easily inserted in an eyelet of a rod carrier, as shown in Figure 1 while the pawl portion 25, the arm 24 and the body portion 27 are somewhat wider than the arm 23. However, all of the components of the drapery rod element 13 may be of the same width. The arm 24 is relatively thin compared to the heavy body portion 27 to permit flexing of the arm for displacing the body portion 27 from its normal position.

In the operation of the drapery hanger, the drapery rod element is attached to a drapery rod or carrier by inserting the elongated leg 23 within an eyelet of a carrier as shown in Figure 1, or hanging the hook portion over a draper rod. Due to the ratchet arrangement the drapery receiving pin or member 11 which is associated with a drape may be moved upwardly relative to the rod element 13 by simply exerting a pressure on the pleat or heading of the drape in an upward direction to slide the notched leg 20 past the leading edge 26 of the pawl portion 25 to lock the member 11 in any position within the limits provided by the notches 22 on the notch log 20. To lower the drape, it is only necessary to pull the pin or drapery receiving member 11 forward in the direction of the arrow 29 of Figure 3 by exerting a light pressure on the heading or pleating of the drape. This action will displace the normal position of the body portion J17 through the action between the leg 20 with the body portion 27 and flex the arm 24 of the drapery rod element 13, approximately as shown in Figure 3, to disengage the notched leg 20 from the pawl portion 25 and permit the member 11 to drop relative to the drapery rod element 13. The slot 26 of the pawl portion 25 limits the forward movement of the drape 20 and the member or the pin 11 by the engagement of the back sides of the leg 20 with the trailing edge 26b of the slot 26. A further feature of this invention lies in the fact that the side of the body portion 27 adjacent the inner leg 18 of the pin 11 is only spaced slightly therefrom which prevents the pin 11 from rotating relative to the rod element 13 a suflicient amount to disengage the notched leg 20 from the pawl portion 25. So it is seen that to vary the height of a drape supported by a drapery hanger according to the present invention may be easily and quickly accomplished by the manipulation of a single hand by the user.

It will be understood that modifications and variations may be effected without departing from the scope of the novel concepts of the present invention.

We claim:

1. An adjustable support for draperies or the like, which comprises a U-shaped drapery receiving member, a ratchet-notched leg portion on said member, a hook to be removably associated with a drapery rod or track carrier having a bored body portion and a pawl for re ceiving and coacting with the notched leg portion of the drapery receiving member and adjustably and positively locking the hook and member together, whereby relative movement between the hook and the drapery receiving member may be accomplished to vertically position a drape.

2. An adjustable support for draperies or thelike, which comprises a U-shaped drapery receiving member, a ratchetnotched leg portion on said member, a nylon hook to be removably associated with a drapery rod or track carrier having a bored body portion and a pawl for receiving and coacting with the notched leg portion of the drapery receiving member and adjustably and positively locking the hook and member together whereby relative movement between the hook and the drapery receiving member is accomplished to vertically position a drape.

3. In combination, a drape, a drapery rod, and an adjustable support for hanging the drape on the rod, which comprises a drapery receiving member associated with said drape, and a drapery rod hook mounted on a drapery rod, said hook and drapery receiving member having pawl and ratchet means for adjustably positioning one with respect to the other, from the front of the drape without removal of the drape from the receiving member or the hook from the drapery rod.

4. A two-piece drapery support adapted to adjustably position a drape or the like along the vertical, which comprises a drapery receiving member having a U-shaped portion and a ratchet-notched leg connected to a leg of said U-shaped portion, and a drapery rod or carrier receiving element having a hook portion, a slotted pawl portionv for receiving the, ratchet-notched leg of said drapery. receiving member, and. a smooth bore, body portion capable of flexing with respect to the pawl portion and arrangedto closely receive said, ratchet-notched leg to normally and positively lock the leg with, said pawl portion. i

5;. A, drapery; support adapted to, selectively position a drape or the like with respect to a draperyrod along the vertical, which comprises means for attachment to a drape, means for-attachment to a drapery rod, and coacting means carried by said drape attachment means and said drapery rod attachment means for selectively positioning the drape withthe'drapery-rod' while facingvthe frontaof' the drape.

6. A drapery support adapted to selectively position;

adrape or-the like with respect toa drapery rod along the vertical, which comprises means for attachment to a drape, means for attachment to a drapery rod, a notched leg carried by said drape attachment means, and a pawl carried by said drapery rod attachment means coacting with said leg for adjustably and positively positioning the former means with the latter means.

7. A drapery support adapted to selectively position a drape or the like with respect to a drapery rod along the vertical, which comprises means for attachment to the heading of a drape, means for attachment to a drapery rod, a notched leg carried by said drape attachment means, and a pawl carried by said drapery rod attachment means coacting with said leg for adjustably positioning the former means with the latter means, and locking the notched leg against downward movement but allowing free upward movement thereof whereby manipulation of said support may be accomplished from the front of the drape.

8. A two-piece drapery support adapted to adjustably position a drape or the like along the vertical, which comprises a drapery receiving member having a U-shaped portion and a ratchet-notched leg connected to a leg of said U-shaped portion, a drapery rod or carrier receiving element having a hook portion, a slotted pawl portion for receiving the ratchet-notched leg of said drapery receiving member, said slotted pawl portion limiting the relative movement between the pawl portion and said leg, and a smooth bore body portion capable of flexing with respect to the pawl portion and arranged to closely receive said ratchet-notched leg to normally positively lock the leg with said pawl portion.

9. A two-piece drapery support adapted to adjustably position a drape or the like along the vertical, which comprises a drapery receiving member having a U-shaped portion and a ratchet-notched leg connected to a leg of said U-shaped portion, a drapery rod or carrier receiving element having a hook portion, a slotted pawl portion for receiving the ratchet-notched leg of said drapery receiving member, and a smooth bore body portion capable of flexing with respect to the pawl portion and arranged to closely receive said ratchet-notched leg to normally positively lock the leg with said pawl portion, said bored body portion being substantially rectangularly shaped and arranged to substantially abut one leg of the U-shaped portion of said drapery receiving member, thereby preventing said member from sufliciently rotating relative to the drapery rod element during normal operation to unlock the pawl from the notched leg.

10. A two-piece drapery support adapted to a-djustably position a drape or the like along the vertical, which comprises a drapery receiving member having a U-shaped portion and a ratchet-notched leg connected to a leg of said U-shaped portion, and a drapery rod or carrier receiving element having a hook portion, a slotted pawl portion for receiving the ratchet-notched leg of said drapery receiving member, and a smooth bore body portion capable of flexing with respect to the pawl portion and arranged to closely receive said ratchet-notched leg to normally positively lock the leg with said pawl portion,

whereby. theapplication of outwardanddownward pressure. on said drapery. receivingmenfrberapplied from, the front. will release. the ratchet-notchedleg from the pawl carrying drapery rod, receiving elementperrnittingsaid member to,.slide]downwardly, relative to said element.

11. A two piece drapery support adapted, to adjustably positions-a drape .or the likealong thevertical, which comprisesa drapery-receiving member havinga Urshapedportion and a ratchet-notched leg connected to aleg of said Urshaped portion, and a drapery. rod, or. carrier receiving element having. a hook portion, a, slottedpawl. portion for receiving; the ratchet-notched leg of said drapery receiving member, and, asmooth bore .bodyportion capable of flexing, with respect to the pawl portion andlarranged to close- 1y. receive said. ratchet-notched, leg; to,.normally positively lock the leg with saidpawl ,portiom whereby the applicationv of outward and downward pressure on said drapery receiving member will flex the smooth bore body portion of said drapery rod element relative to the slotted pawl releasing the notched leg of said drapery receiving member to permit downward movement of the latter.

12. A support for draperies or the like, which comprises a drapery rod receiving member, a drapery receiving member, and ratchet means connecting said members for adjustably positioning one with respect to the other in positive locked relationship.

13. A drapery hanger or the like which comprises a first member, means on said first member to detachably mount the member on a drapery rod, a second member coacting with the first member, means on the second member for attachment to a drape or the like, releasable locking means securing said first and second members in relatively fixed relation and said locking means being manipulatable between released and locked positions from the front of the drape, whereby said first and second members are adjusted relative to each other to control the level of the drape without removing the members from the drape or rod.

14. A drapery hanger or the like which comprises a first member, means on said first member to detachably mount the member on a drapery rod, a second member slidably coacting with the first member, means on the second member for attachment to a drape or the like, releasable locking means securing said first and second members in relatively fixed relation and said locking means being manipulatable between released and locked positions from the front of the drape, whereby said first and second members are adjusted relative to each other to control the level of the drape without removing the members from the drape or rod.

15. A drapery hanger or the like which comprises a first member, means on said first member to detachably mount the member on a drapery rod, a second member slidably coacting with the first member, means on the second member for attachment to a drape or the like, releasable locking means securing said first and second members in relatively fixed relation and said locking means being manipulatable between released and locked positions from the front of the drape and being released by rocking the second member relative to the first member, whereby said first and second members are adjusted relative to each other to control the level of the drape without removing the members from the drape or rod.

16. A drapery hanger or the like comprising an elongated first member adapted to be attached to a drape in an upright position, said first member having spaced receiving means along the length thereof, a second member having a hook portion adapted to be attached to a drapery carrier and including an elongated arm connected at its top with a shorter downwardly extending arm, said second member having a portion extending laterally from the upper ends of said arms and terminating in a free end adapted to selectively engage said receiving means of the first member, said second member having a body under the free end of said laterally projecting portion slidably mounted on said first member and having its lower end joined with the lower end of said shorter arm by a flexible portion, and said flexible portion and shorter arm normally holding said free end of the laterally extending portion in a receiving means of the first member but accommodating pivoting of the shorter arm to move the free end out of said receiving means to permit relative sliding of the first and second members to adjust the height of a drape or the like.

17. The drapery hanger of claim 16 wherein the first member is metal and the second member is a one-piece molded plastic unit freely slidable on the first member.

18. A drapery hanger or the like which comprises an elongated drapery pin having a leg with spaced locking means along the length thereof, a drapery rod hook having an apertured body slidably mounted on said leg, an arm extending outwardly and upwardly from the bottom portion of said body, a pawl on the upper end of said arm overlying the body adapted to project into a locking means on the pin, and a hook portion on said arm depending from the upper end of said arm adapted to receive a drapery rod member, said arm being flexibly connected to said body to accommodate tilting of the pawl out of said receiving means to thereby permit sliding of the hook upon the pin.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,983,467 Kluglein Dec. 4, 1934 2,592,478 Sherman Apr. 8, 1952 2,602,205 Davis July 8, 1952 2,708,777 Meyer May 24, 1955 

